Forum

British Pharmaceutical Students Association

Motions

The 59th annual British Pharmaceutical Students Association conference began on April 7 in Portsmouth

Students agree that repeat prescriptions should be managed by pharmacists
Access to medical notes
Prescription charges
Complementary medicine

Other motions

Prescriptions should be limited to a 30-day supply.
Defibrillation machines should be situated in community pharmacies

Students agree that repeat prescriptions should be managed by pharmacists

The management of repeat National Health Service prescriptions should be undertaken by the community pharmacist, pharmacy students agreed at their annual conference.

FINLAY ROYLE, Strathclyde, argued that pharmacists were better placed than general practitioners to manage repeat prescriptions. He said that doctors did not see the patient when repeats were issued and that often it was not the patient's own GP who signed the prescription. The pharmacist would see the patient each time and could monitor and review the prescription. He added that managing repeats would allow pharmacists to become more involved in patients' care.

KEVIN FROST, ex-Bradford, seconded the motion. He said that the management of repeat prescriptions was an important future role for pharmacists. “Community pharmacists can take care of the whole process,” he said.

KATHRYN MARSH, Bradford, commented that pharmacists would need access to medical notes to be able to manage repeat prescriptions properly.

The motion was carried by a large majority.

Access to medical notes

Students at the conference thought that community pharmacists should have access to the medical notes of any patient, with appropriate consent. “Access would help community pharmacists to solve queries with prescriptions,” said REBECCA CLARK, ex-Bath, who proposed the motion.

SAPHY SALMAN, Cardiff, added that pharmacists knew best how drugs worked and whether interactions might occur. GAVIN MILLER, ex-Bradford, agreed, saying that access to patients' notes was important if pharmacists were to make clinical decisions about whether a drug was appropriate.

Several participants spoke against the motion. ROB FORDE, ex-Aston, said that there was no foundation for community pharmacists to ask for access to medical notes and argued that a structure for training needed to be in place before access should be allowed.

ELIZABETH DORAN, Nottingham, said she worried that those who were speaking against the motion were selling the profession short. “How can we implement the NHS plan or medicines management if we do not have faith in ourselves,” she said. She added that the profession needed to be given opportunities to prove itself.

Prescription charges

Students at the conference called for a review of the current system of exemption from prescription charges because of a medical condition.

“NHS money is being wasted because of the current system, which can be abused,” said KRISTY LINK, Bradford, who proposed the motion. She also argued that the criteria for exemption were unfair at the moment. Other conditions ought to be added to the list. For example, patients with asthma should receive their inhalers free of charge, she said. SCOTT DALGLEISH, Strathclyde, said that abuse of the system applied to all exemption categories, not just the medical condition category. He argued that the whole system of exemption from prescription charges needed reviewing, not just the part relating to medical conditions.

The issue of how pharmacists would know if a particular medicine was being prescribed for the condition in question was discussed. JO HOOD, Bradford, pointed out that patients were assessed by their GP when a medicine was prescribed, which meant that the prescription could be endorsed appropriately.

Complementary medicine

A complementary medicine module should be a core component of the pharmacy undergraduate syllabus, the conference participants agreed. Proposing the motion, Gabriella Arclondi, Bradford, said that customers expected pharmacists to know about complementary medicines and that it was important that pharmacists were aware of potential interactions between herbal and conventional medicines.

Christine Glover, President, Royal Pharmaceutical Society said: “As people who know about medicines, pharmacists have a responsibility to know about complementary medicines.”

Speaking against the motion, Scott Dalgleish, Strathclyde, said that pharmacists had a duty under the Code of Ethics to be informed about the products they sold. However, the subject of complementary medicines could be left for postgraduate training and continuing professional development.

The purpose of core component subjects was to prepare students for their preregistration year, and making complementary medicine a core subject would have a detrimental effect on other subjects. He added that issues arising from the use of herbal medicines, such as interactions with other medicines, could be incorporated into other core subjects. The motion was carried.